Graham Motion, the trainer of Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom, decided
after walking the course at Ascot this week that the Royal meeting’s opening
race over a mile, the Group 1 Queen Anne, will be the Kentucky-bred’s target in
his career finale on June 18.
“We had discussed the possibility of either the Queen Anne Stakes or the
Prince of Wales’s Stakes,’ said Motion, a native of Cambridge, England. “But
after walking the course, I feel the mile in the Queen Anne will afford our
horse plenty of ground. We had only considered the other race because it is run
over the same mile and a quarter distance as the Kentucky Derby and World Cup.
“The owners (Arrowfield Stud, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and Team
Valor International) prefer a credential for the horse at a mile and I think the
uphill nature of the Ascot course will be a stiff enough test to allow his
stamina to come into play.
“The mile at Ascot is closer to a mile and an eighth race in America because
of the layout and if Animal Kingdom were racing in America at this time, we
probably would be running him over that distance. The Queen Anne also fits
nicely into my training schedule for Animal Kingdom since we freshened him up
after his trip to Dubai.
Animal Kingdom, first or second in all of his races save the Belmont Stakes
in which he nearly fell at the start, has won both of his outings over 1 1/4
miles. At a mile, he finished second by 1 1/2 lengths to Horse of the Year Wise
Dan in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in his first start in eight months.
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com